Loaded Field Slated for Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara

5/22/2013

The final stop of USA Swimming’s 2012-13 Arena Grand Prix Series – the May 30-June 2 Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara – will feature a star-studded field including Olympic gold medalists Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) and Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), as well as a number of Northern California-based standouts, competing at the George F. Haines International Swim Center.

Bay Area Olympic gold medalists scheduled to swim in Santa Clara include Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash.), Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Anthony Ervin (Valencia, Calif.) and Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas). Franklin will soon have local ties, as she will enroll at the University of California, Berkeley and join the Golden Bears’ swimming program in the fall.

In total, more than 500 top U.S. and international swimmers, including Olympic gold medalist and sprint freestyle world record holder César Cielo of Brazil, will compete at the historic facility.

The action begins Thursday, May 30 with finals at 4 p.m. PT. Competition on May 31-June 2 will feature prelims at 9 a.m., followed by 5 p.m. finals. Tickets are required for all sessions and are on sale now via the Santa Clara Swim Club website.

The Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 finals will air live on the Universal Sports Network from 8-9:30 p.m. ET, and a live webcast of the entire meet will be streamed online via usaswimming.org.

The Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara is the sixth and final stop of the 2012-13 Arena Grand Prix Series. As part of USA Swimming’s new, eight-year partnership with Arena, the Arena Grand Prix Series will offer swimmers the opportunity to take home prize money for top finishes in all individual Olympic-distance events for each meet in the Series. An overall leaderboard for the Series can be found online here.

The Arena Grand Prix Series serves as an opportunity for swimmers to race against some of the best competition in the country as they continue their preparation for the 2013 Phillips 66 National Championships and World Championships Trials in Indianapolis, Ind., the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, and the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.